The relationship of orthodontic treatment need with periodontal status, dental caries, and sociodemographic factors.

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of orthodontic malocclusion with periodontal status, dental caries, and sociodemographic status. Our study population consisted of a sample of 836 school children (384 male and 452 female, aged 11-14 years). Four experienced orthodontists and two experienced periodontists performed the clinical examinations. The Treatment Priority Index (TPI), Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN), decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) scores, and a questionnaire that surveyed socio-demographic status of students were used. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were used to measure the association between variables. TPI scores showed that 36.4% of the students had normal occlusion, while 41.2% had slight, 15.7% had definite, 4% had severe, and 2.7% had very severe malocclusion. TPI values did not show any significant differences between pupils in different age, gender, socioeconomic status groups, and CPITN scores, whereas there was a significant relationship between TPI and DMFT scores. The orthodontic treatment need was not significantly correlated with CPITN or socio-demographic status; however, the correlation coefficient showed a significant relationship between TPI and DMFT scores.